communicative competence

the means, including the rules, by which persons sustain communicative exchanges and interactions with others within a community. The term was coined by Hymes (1966) to focus attention on the skills and knowledge involved in human communication. It reflects the limitations in LINGUISTICS of concentration mainly on syntactic competence (compare CHOMSKY). Hymes indicates in the formulation of his S.P.E.A.K.I.N.G. acronym some of the elements of social situations which would have to be included: setting and scene, participants’ ends, act sequence, ‘key’, instrumentalities, norms and genres. To imagine dealing with these in an integrated set of rules might seem to indicate an impossible ambition, and many critics would question whether a ‘rule’ formulation is appropriate. However, Hymes’ conception points to a vital area of interest, and attempts to model ‘communicative competence’ will continue to command attention. Without resort to either ‘psychologism’ or 'S ociologism’, HABERMAS, for example, suggests communicative competence implies an ‘ideal speech situation’ from which discursive conceptions of truth and justice may be derived.

Collins Dictionary of Sociology, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2000

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References in periodicals archive

Hypothesis 2: The greater the students' self-perceived communicative competence the greater their willingness to communicate.

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One would believe that Pakistani students of Intermediate level are being equipped with Communicative Competence in English as Second Language (BSL) to be ready to use the target language and skill for communication in academic and social contexts at the target levels.

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The focus is on communicative competence rather than on linguistics or grammatical competence.

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I had a personal encounter with communicative competence breaking down right in my own college.

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